"Father, I am your servant, willing and desiring
to be
used to
bless your
people."

GOD'S AMAZING GRACE

OPENING STORY:"I heard (this story) from a man
who works with the down-and-out in Chicago: he stated A prostitute came to me in
wretched straits, homeless, sick, unable to buy food for her two-year-old
daughter. Through sobs and tears, she told me she had been renting out her
daughter – two years old… She made more renting out her daughter for an hour
than she could earn on her own in a night. She had to do it, she said, to
support her own drug habit. I could hardly bear hearing her sordid story… I had
no idea what to say to this woman.At last I asked if she had ever thought of
going to a church for help. I will never forget the look of pure, naïve shock
that crossed her face. "Church!" she cried, "Why would I ever go there? I was
already feeling terrible about myself. They'd just make me feel worse."What
struck me about this story is that women much like the prostitute fled toward
Jesus, not away from him. The worse a person felt about herself, the more likely
she saw Jesus as a refuge. I Wonder Has the church lost that gift? Evidently the
down-and-out, who flocked to Jesus when he lived on earth, no longer feel
welcome among his followers."

INTRO: Something is
wrong in the church today! • We've forgotten all about God's Amazing Grace!
We have been infiltrated with the Pharasee Spirit . I was watching and
listening one day to a service from a mega church that knew little of the
grace of God. • When they sang the famous old hymn, they actually
changed the words to: "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved someone
like me."• The pastor said right from the pulpit, "If I ever ask you how
you're doing, I don't want to hear about all of your problems. I want you to
say: Bless God, I'm on top and rising!" They didn't understand grace. And was
operating by a spirit of the pharasee,

I recently discovered
a book that radically revolutionized my understanding of Christianity. It's
called "The Ragamuffin Gospel."

QUOTE: (Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin
Gospel)."The Ragamuffin Gospel was written with a specific reading audience
in mind. This book is not for the super-spiritual… It is not for legalists who
would rather surrender control of their souls to rules rather than run the risk
of living in union with Jesus… The Ragamuffin Gospel was written for the
bedraggled, beat-up, and burnt-out… It is for the wobbly and weak-kneed who know
they don't have it altogether and are too proud to accept the handout of amazing
grace… It is for poor, weak, sinful men and women with hereditary faults and
limited talents… It is for the bent and the bruised who feel that their lives
are a great disappointment to God… it is for anyone who has grown weary and
discouraged along the way."

However, the one quote that impacted me
the most was this one: "Morton Kelsey wrote: The Church is not a museum for
saints, but a hospital for sinners."

OPENING TEXT:"Jesus said,
"Healthy people don't need a doctor – sick people do…" For I have come to call
sinners, not those who think they are already good
enough." (Matthew 9:12-13, NLT).

BIBLE STORY: Why do so few
people really understand God's grace? This is a problem they had in the
early church as well. The Spirit of the Pharasee!

Acts 15:1
And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said,
Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be
saved.

Acts 15:2 When
therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them,
they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up
to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question.

Acts 15:3 And
being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phenice and
Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: and they caused great joy
unto all the brethren.

Acts 15:4 And
when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the
apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them.

Acts 15:5 But
there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That
it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of
Moses.

Acts 15:6 And
the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter.

Acts 15:7 And
when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and
brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the
Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.

Acts 15:8 And
God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost,
even as he did unto us;

Acts 15:9 And
put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by
faith.

Acts 15:10 Now
therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which
neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?

Acts 15:11 But
we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved,
even as they.

THE BIG IDEA: The Bible
teaches that we are saved by God's grace alone through faith alone in
Christ alone. However, we must beware the spirit of the Pharisee,
because they will try to keep you in bondage and keep you from experiencing
God's grace.

There is a dangerous book in
circulation called the way of the master! Beware of this book!

It is the laced with the
spirit of the Pharasee and it teaches Doctrines of Law that neither the Ancient
Jews nor we could then nor can live under now. Hidden within its pages is the
same Pharasee spirit that Peter was addressing here in this
scripture.

BEWARE THE SPIRIT OF THE PHARISEE:Well What is the spirit
of the Pharisee? A Pharisee isn't someone with a long beard in a long
robe!In Matt. 9:11 - they criticized Jesus for hanging around with
sinnersMatt. 12:2 - they judged Jesus and His disciples for ‘working' on the
SabbathMatt. 12:14 - they plotted and schemed how they might destroy
JesusMatt. 15:6 - they made God's Word ineffective because of their
traditions

Matt. 15:7 - Jesus called
them hypocrites – pretenders, Poisenous Snakes,
Vipersand White washed Sepulchrees, Look good on the
outside but on the inside full of dead mens bones.

Matt. 15:8 - they worshipped
on the outside but their hearts were far from Him.Matt. 15:12 - they were
offended by Jesus' teaching (Pharisees are easily offended)Matt. 23:4
- they bind heavy burdens on other people but won't help them carry them..
In other wards they try to tell you how to live by the law and they themselves
can not and don't do it.Matt. 23:13 - they don't enter the Kingdom of God,
and hinders all others from entering, too. By the way of Grace!Matt.
23:14-15 - they act very spiritual and try to get other people to follow
themMatt. 23:23 - they follow the law legalistically and externally, but
aren't merciful to peopleMatt. 23:34 - they kill and persecute men of God
(attack pastors and preachers, ). Because they feel like were not presenting the
Truth. Salvation must be maintained by keeping of the Law of Moses. You
are really not saved if you don't keep the 10 commandments.

Did you know that is exactly
what peter was addressing here. They were de moralizing the word of
God making the Grace of God not good enough.

Yeah you might be saved but
now you have to keep the 10 commandments.

Yeah you might saved but in
order to get into heaven you have to be circumsised

My bible tells me

Romans 8:1 There
is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not
after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Beware the spirit of the
Pharisee: They will try to keep you from experiencing God's grace!

• They will try to pile
rule after rule on you to try to make you ‘acceptable' to God.They start out
with a few of the Ten Commandments and Build upon those for the destruction of
God's Grace that ye arre saved.

"Listen Jesus hung
around with sinners, and if we're too holy to allow people to blow smoke in our
faces, then we're holier than Jesus was."

"If you come around here,
we're going to love you – unconditionally, always, and under every
circumstance."

• The problem with the
spirit of the Pharisee or legalism is it always puts unrealistic expectations
upon people that they are bound to fail.

•The Danger In Doing
this to people is Because they can't and never will measure up, it will either
lead to feelings of failure, or possibly pretense, or even rebellion. This isn't
grace! The next time someone comes to you and leads you down the Mosaic laws,
kindly recognize the pharaseic spirit in operation and walk away in Grace. " God
loves me just the way I am, He not You, He not the Law, but He loves me
way to much to leave me this way… You see it is His good pleasure
both to Will and to Do in my life… He in the Potter you and I are nothing
but the lump of Clay. We can never mold our selves into ever being good
enough, or holy enough, My rightiousness is mere filthy rags but it is God who
is on the Inside that works on the Outside.. not the other way
around

WHAT IS GOD'S AMAZING GRACE?

KEY TEXT: "For by grace you
have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of
God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." (Eph. 2:8-9)."But God
demonstrates His own love towards us in this: While we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us." (Romans 5:8).

WHAT IS GRACE? "God's undeserved favour,
spiritual blessing, mercy, and lovingkindness."• Someone defined it in terms
of this acronym: God's Riches At Christ's Expense.• Jesus paid the ultimate
price for our salvation – it is all of grace!

We can't add anything to the
work of the Cross. Our sins are forgiven. Jesus said, "It is finished!"
The spirit of the Pharisee tries to add
good works to God's grace. Ten
Commandments etc ,NOT of works, so no one can boast. • Undeserved favour.
That means: There is nothing you can do to make
God love you less. There is also nothing you can do to make God love you
more.

ILLUSTRATION: Charles Spurgeon, The Doctrines of
Grace do not Lead to Sin."There is the story of half-a-dozen boys who had
severe fathers, accustomed to beat them within an inch of their lives. Another
boy was with them who was well beloved by his parents, and known to do so. These
young boys met together to hold a council of war about robbing an orchard. They
were all anxious to get about it except the favoured youth, who did not enjoy
the proposal.

One of them cried out, "You
need not be afraid:

if our fathers catch us at
this work, we shall be half-killed, but your father won't lay a hand upon you."
The little boy answered, "And do you think because my father is kind to me, that
therefore I will do wrong and grieve him? I will do nothing of the sort to my
dear father. He is so good to me that I cannot vex him."

ILLUSTRATION:
Charles Stanley took a test in school. The teacher said, "Before you take the
exam, read all the way through the exam." The last line said, "You have a
choice. You can either complete this exam, or simply sign the paper and you'll
get an A." An example of grace! You want to Live by the Law, you want to
try and burden others to live by the law.. to set them up for repeated failure..
or do you want to sign on the bottom and accept Gods Grace Alone?

ALTAR CALL FOR SALVATION:
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved." (Acts
16:31).